Shattered
by ShatteredShadows
Summary: They were like two halves of a glass vase. Together, they made a beautiful whole. But they were perched on an edge, both slowly losing balance. Soon enough, they would both fall and shatter into millions of pieces.


**Here it is, my first oneshot as a reinvented person. Enjoy. Confused? My profile explains.**

**Oh, and for those of you who are obsessed with knowing what pairing the story is, this oneshot is a onesided Tess/Shane and a onesided Nate/Tess. Happy now? Song blurb is from the song "Bruised" by Jack's Mannequin.**

**Disclaimer: These things are stupid. I obviously don't own Camp Rock.**

Shattered

_I swear I didn't mean for  
it to feel like this,  
like every inch of me is  
bruised._

Tess Tyler and Shane Gray first met when they were eleven. It was their first year at Camp Rock.

They didn't meet until a week before Final Jam. Tess's mother, whom she had made sure to tell everyone was TJ Tyler, had promised that she would come to the show.

This had inspired Tess to rehearse nonstop, for her mother had never seen her perform and she wanted to make her proud. At a dress rehearsal of the Final Jam, her mother called to explain that she wouldn't be able to attend the show.

Tess ran out crying, locking herself into an unknown room. She soon discovered she was not alone, and that a boy was standing across from her and looking at her strangely. She could not identify the emotion on his face, for she had never seen anyone look at her like that before.

He asked her what was wrong, and the whole story suddenly poured out of her, as if a dam inside her broke and an unstoppable waterfall of emotions raged out. The boy listened the whole time, keeping the same expression as before on his face.

Eventually she grew tired of trying to figure out what the emotion was, so she flat out asked him. He calmly explained that the emotion was sympathy.

Tess Tyler was not used to people caring for her. Her mother, though she insisted she loved her, was barely around her. Her many stepfathers never had and never would care for her. And her friends most definitely harbored a secret hatred for her, a fact even she was aware of.

But somehow this boy, this unknown boy who didn't know a thing about her character, began caring for her the moment he saw her crying.

Tess now knows that she fell in love on the spot.

-

Tess Tyler and Shane Gray became friends when they were twelve. It was the beginning of their second summer at Camp Rock.

She still remembered him as the kind boy who cared for her when no one else had, and he still remembered her as the poor girl whose mother didn't want to make the time for her.

Other than a few awkward "hellos", they didn't speak much. Tess was vulnerable and afraid that he would hurt her, and Shane was ignorant and unaware of the fact that she wanted to be friends with him.

One day, however, they were paired up for a duet in their vocal class. This meant that they would be spending immense amounts of time together, a feat that could not be conquered without the formation of a friendship.

They very soon became friends. Tess learned many things about him, like how he always stole the harmonies and left her with the melody. Shane learned many things about her, like how she naturally sang louder when she sang with another person.

Though both of these things should have foreshadowed flaws in their character, neither took notice of them. They just saw them as odd little quirks.

They remained friends for that year. Real friends.

-

Tess Tyler and Shane Gray became enemies when they were thirteen. It was in the middle of their third year at Camp Rock.

Shane and his friends had hired an agent, one who got them many meetings with record labels. Though they were yet to be signed, they were still excited the whole time.

But even with all the excitement, Tess and Shane remained very close. Tess, by that time, was very well aware of the fact that she had feelings for Shane that were not strictly platonic.

That year, though, Tess changed. Her father, who she was very close with, became an alcoholic. He was a wealthy man who was going through some legal trouble, which caused him to resort to alcohol.

Tess's father began to become annoyed by Tess. He had to remain sober when she was around, a task that he did not enjoy. Soon his annoyance turned into hate, a cold hate that Tess did not deserve.

One day, as he was just pulling out his bottle of vodka, Tess called him to tell him of the news that she was going to do a solo in the Final Jam.

Completely enraged that she had interrupted his drinking, her father screamed at her, brutally admitting to his complete hatred of her.

After her father's blow up, Tess called her mother. She remembers her mother's exact words, which were, "Trust no one. Everyone will turn on you eventually, so instead of setting yourself up for heartache, just use them to get yourself higher on the food chain. Love is something that does not exist. Friends don't love their friends. Every friend carries a secret hatred for their friends. Everyone hates you. Everyone hates everyone. So punish them for their hate by using them for your own personal gain."

Tess took her mother's advice to heart; ignoring the fact that she herself was living proof her mother was wrong. She truly loved her friends and wouldn't dare turn on them. She overlooked this, though, and became an entirely new person virtually overnight.

She became convinced that her friends, even including Shane, hated her. Her mother's words fresh in her mind, she ended every one of those friendships.

Shane assumed she was just going through a rough time. He was the only friend that didn't give up on her and continued to act as if they were still close.

In her eyes, Tess saw Shane's actions as trying to ruin her by getting close and then betraying her. She maliciously made a plan to use his against him.

She pretended to let Shane in again. She told him some things that seemed like they were her true feelings, though they were not. Eventually, she got him to open up to her.

And after opening up a little, Shane opened up completely. He told her every embarrassing detail of his life, putting his entire trust in her. She absorbed each and every word, planning to reveal them to the camp.

She kept this plan, and one day at lunch she carried it out. She stood up on her table, got everyone's attention, and began confessing everything Shane told her. She did not stop until every last secret of his was told.

Shane Gray told her he hated her that day. She felt a sharp, painful stab in her dead heart, and regretfully realized that she was in love with Shane and had just completely blown any chance they would ever have together.

That day, Tess decided that she would keep her heart closed to everyone except Shane. If he ever decided to rekindle their friendship, she would immediately let him in and tell everything she kept secret.

Shane Gray was the only person in the world Tess Tyler trusted.

Sadly, Tess Tyler was the one person in the world Shane Gray trusted the least.

-

Tess Tyler and Shane Gray were separated when they were fourteen. Tess went back for her fourth year of camp while Shane's band was releasing their first single, _Party Night_.

Tess hated being away from Shane.

She spent the whole summer drowning in regret for what she did. She was well aware of the fact that he would never forgive her. She had taken everything they had and would ever have and reduced it to nothing.

Now, they had nothing.

They were like two halves of a glass vase. Together, they made a beautiful whole. But the only thing keeping them together was each other. They were perched on an edge, both keeping balance as well as they could.

Tess's half was pushed off the edge, falling quickly to the ground and smashing into a million broken shards, sharp and pointy shards that were painful to anyone who touched them.

Shane's half was left by itself, though there were some things still magically holding it back. Eventually, however, it too fell of the edge. But instead of shattering like Tess, Shane's half broke into a few large pieces that, if work was put into them, could be put back together.

Their glass vase, the entirety of what they were, would never be whole again. Though Shane's half could be fixed, it would never be complete without Tess's half. And no one wanted to take out the time to glue her back together, for the process would be both painful and strenuous.

Shane did, in fact, break like Tess. He began acting rude, demanding his way and having tantrums if he didn't get it. People began withdrawing from him instead of putting in the little effort that was needed to glue him back together.

Tess knew it was her fault, for she destroyed his ability to fully trust a person.

Tess began to become even more broken. Her heart constantly felt like it was ripping and tearing, the pain being too much for her to handle. She got rid of this pain by inflicting it in others.

She thought that if she made others hurt, they would shoulder a little bit of her pain and she would feel less of the burden.

Not being a physically strong person, Tess would use words and trickery to impale the hearts of people. She would befriend them, and then betray them. When the person cried out in their unhappiness, Tess's pain just grew more.

She was under the impression that the pain grew because she wasn't hurting them enough, but the exact opposite was true. The pain hurt worse because Tess was not born a bad person.

Her veins flowed with good blood. Her body wanted her to be good, giving her a kind smile and lovable laugh. But Tess did not use these good attributes. She changed her kind smile into a malicious grin and traded her lovable laugh for a mocking snicker.

Tess's heart, which wanted to be good, broke a little more every time she hurt another person. But Tess was blind to this and just kept hurting more and more people until, eventually, she had gained herself a reputation as a bully.

Coincidentally, across the country, Shane Gray had earned himself the same reputation.

All because no one wanted to glue together the broken pieces of their glass vase back together.

-

Tess Tyler and Shane Gray were reunited when they were fifteen. Tess was planning on going into her fifth year of Camp Rock, but the summer had yet to come. Shane's career was skyrocketing, and so was his attitude.

Tess had, using her mother's connections, gotten herself invited to a Halloween party in Hollywood. It was being held at a teen club named "Dream Scope". Though a strange name, it was the only teen club Hollywood had to offer.

Tess showed up at the party looking her best, wearing lacy red booty shorts, a tight red navel baring top, and devil horns. On her face was her thick layer of black eyeliner, topped with over the top red eyeshadow.

She walked around the party, pretending to enjoy herself. A Connect Three song came on, causing her heart to ache a little more. Unable to deal with the pain, she scanned the room for a victim.

She finally spotted them near the wall, alone and dressed as a pumpkin. The girl was obviously new to Hollywood parties and had only showed up on a small hope to meet famous people.

Tess sauntered over, prepared to obliterate. But, before she could reach the girl, a large group of girls at the entrance of the club screamed.

Tess looked over to see what was going on, but couldn't see over the enormous crowd of people surrounding the door. Tess rolled her eyes at the star struck people, they acted as if they'd never met someone famous before.

She made her way over, just to see what was going on. She blindly cut her way through the huge crowd, looking around for anything they might have been fawning over.

Suddenly, she collided with a body, knocking her onto the ground. A voice apologized and held out a hand to help her up. Tess froze, keeping her hair in front of her face as a mask.

It was Shane.

Shane offered his hand once again, so Tess sighed and looked up at him. His expression changed completely, his annoyed look turning into a black scowl and his eyes filling with hate. He pulled back his hand.

Seeing him in the flesh, Tess felt all of her buried emotions swarm back to her.

The guilt, the love, the misery. All of it came rushing to her, none of it feeling good. She looked up again at him. The moment her eyes confirmed his hateful expression, her eyes glazed over with tears.

Soon she was collapsed on the floor, crying hysterically. She wanted to stop crying to end the humiliation, but at the same time wanted to get the emotions out of her. Maybe, she thought, if she cried them all out then they wouldn't return.

She felt a pair of arms pull her up. At first she thought it was Shane, but soon realized it was one of his best friends, Nate Black. She looked around for Shane, finally spotting him chatting up an obsessed fan girl and laughing without a care.

The sight made her tears explode again. She collapsed, but was caught, she could only assume by Nate. The person who caught her kept her in their arms and took her out of the club. Soon a car door opened and she was placed inside.

The person told her to go home and rest, and that they hoped she had learned her lesson about betraying people's trust. She found that she was correct when she assumed it was Nate, for he was standing outside of the taxi and handing the driver a large sum of money.

Tess closed her eyes and let the tears keep flowing. Eventually, she ran out of tears to cry. When she got home, she scrolled through her phone book, looking for someone who would give her support.

She soon realized that there was no one. No one who cared that she was suffering, no one who cared that she was in need of a friend. Because Tess Tyler did not have friends. Tess Tyler betrayed all her friends. Tess Tyler had no one.

Tess Tyler was completely alone.

-

Shane Gray met Mitchie Torres when he was sixteen. He had been sent back to Camp Rock as a counselor as a punishment for his terrible attitude.

Tess was scared that he was there. She didn't want to have another breakdown, especially not in front of the very campers who feared her. She had a reputation to uphold.

Lucky for Tess, she had gotten two friends that year. She had befriended them only so she would not feel so completely alone. Even though the one was an idiot and the other never stopped annoying her, she knew she would not betray them.

Tess first met Mitchie on the first day of camp. Mitchie had bumped into Tess, which Tess reacted to with a roll of her eyes. She really wasn't angry about it, but she knew she would have to react badly to avoid a friendship with the girl.

A week into camp, Tess ended up befriending the girl. Her mother was rich and had an important job in the music business, which she could understand. The girl was neither an idiot nor annoying; Tess even thought she might like her.

But about a week into the camp, Tess discovered a secret of Mitchie's. She and Shane had met and were becoming fast friends. Though Mitchie thought Tess was unaware of this, Tess knew.

Tess, not wanting Shane to fall in love with Mitchie, decided to hide Mitchie's immense talent by assigning her to be her back up singer. She kept Mitchie rehearsing long hours, preventing her from spending her time with Shane.

Still, Mitchie and Shane found a way to each other. Tess soon realized another thing about Mitchie and Shane's relationship, which made her even more jealous of the Mitchie girl.

Mitchie was gluing Shane's half of the glass vase back together. She was the one person Tess had been hoping would never come, the one person who was willing to take out the time to fix him.

Tess's heart tore at this discovery, causing her even more pain. She immediately hated Mitchie Torres for taking Shane Gray.

Later on in the summer, Tess discovered another terrible thing about the Torres girl. She was lying to Shane. Her mother was not president of Hot Tunes, but the camp cook.

Hatred boiled through Tess. She could not stand the Torres girl. Shane had been lied to before, and when the lies were revealed it destroyed him. Tess herself had been the culprit of that.

Now this Torres girl was gluing Shane back together just to break him again. Tess didn't want Shane to be with Mitchie, but she did want to protect him from the harsh betrayal she had exposed him to two years before.

Without a hesitation, Tess revealed Mitchie's secret to the camp. But once she saw Shane's hurt face and the tears at the corner of his eyes, she knew she had made a mistake.

When she had betrayed Shane, his face showed nothing but hate. To him she had just been a best friend who betrayed his trust and humiliated him. But now she saw that Mitchie was much, much more in Shane's eyes.

Shane was in love with Mitchie.

The one thing Tess had been trying to prevent had already happened. Shane was in love with Mitchie and now his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Tess watched the fight between Mitchie and Shane escalade, ending with Shane storming off.

When Mitchie turned around, Tess got to see her face. Her heart panged at the pain she had inflicted in the girl she hated so much. For after one glance at her face, Tess realized a fact that she had greatly overlooked.

Mitchie was in love with Shane, as well.

She had never planned on hurting him. She wasn't out to cause him pain, like Tess had been. She and Shane had been in love, and Mitchie had probably been planning on telling him the truth at some point.

Tess's guilt for doing this was healed, however, at Final Jam. Shane and Mitchie made up, becoming friends once again.

But Tess's heart was suffering from a different pain at Final Jam. Her mother, who had given her the advice that had ruined her life, had promised to show up to watch her perform.

Tess was immensely excited when she saw her mother sitting in the crowd. Though it was a sad fact, it would be the first time her mother would ever see her perform. She wanted so badly to impress her.

Before going on, her friends deserted her. Tess didn't miss them much, since impressing her mother was the only thing on her mind.

Her performance had started off great. She hit every note and nailed every dance move. But around the middle of the song, her mother got up to leave. She was on her phone, meaning that she probably had a meeting.

In a desperate attempt to make her mother stay, Tess began singing louder and performing her dance moves closer to the edge of the stage. Before she knew it, she had tumbled down and landed on her bottom.

Tess looked at her mother, whose face showed unsurprised disappointment. Tess felt tears fill her eyes and looked at the judges table. Shane looked emotionless, leaning back in his chair and staring at his paper. Jason looked confused, furiously scribbling notes onto his judge's sheet.

Nate was the only one who looked concerned. He was standing up from the table, looking back and forth from Tess to her mother. When he looked at her, she saw his eyes filled with unmistakable concern. Tess's tears began blurring her vision, and she ran off stage to avoid any more embarrassment.

That day, Tess became convinced that her mother's advice was wrong. She could make friends that actually cared and the only people she couldn't trust were members of her own family.

That day, Tess began considering herself as an orphan. She had no mother or father. She had no family. She only had the few people she would put her trust in, the few people who would take out the time to glue her many sharp pieces together again.

The only problem was that she didn't have those people.

-

Tess Tyler's heart was both destroyed and repaired when she was seventeen years old. It was New Year's Eve, and someone from Camp Rock had thrown a party and invited everyone who attended to go.

Tess vowed at the beginning of the party that she would kiss Shane at the start of the New Year. A small part of her knew that he would reject her, but she was somehow convinced that he would love her if she just kissed him.

For most of the party, Tess wandered around, looking for someone to talk to. Even though she had apologized to everyone at camp, including the people she hadn't even wronged, there was still a separation between the campers and her.

Tess tried talking to a few people, but each time they purposely left her out of the conversation. Eventually, she just decided on sitting on a couch by the wall and staring at the ceiling.

Completely alone, she felt the loneliness creep into her. It spread through her veins, until every pour of her body was overflowing with desolate loneliness. Tess had completely ruined her life, pushing anyone who could have ever cared away and leaving those who loved her in misery.

She felt warm tears burn the corners of her eyes, but she quickly swatted them away. She cried much too often. She was tired of crying. Crying made her feel weak and vulnerable. Crying made her feel even more alone.

When Mitchie Torres cried, she had Shane and Caitlyn and dozens of other friends to wipe them away. People cared about the Torres girl. And Shane, the boy who Tess loved so much, was infatuated with her.

When Tess cried, no one wiped away her tears. No one cared about her enough to even wonder why she was crying. And there most definitely was no boy who would ever be infatuated with Tess.

The hot tears now streamed slowly down her cheeks. Tess internally cursed herself; she had been trying to stop the tears and ended up hurrying them along.

Suddenly, Tess didn't care.

She didn't care if the whole population of the camp saw her cry. She didn't care if they saw how much of a mess she was. She didn't care that they saw how broken and desolate she had made herself, and how much she hated being broken and desolate.

She didn't care at all. They could all tape a video of her misery, post it on the internet, and have the whole world see it and she wouldn't care. Everyone already had a terrible view of her; she might as well make it worse.

Now the tears were flowing much faster, though Tess made sure not to make a sound. She kept sitting there, silently weeping for what seemed like an eternity.

Desperately, she wondered if anyone even noticed she was in pain. No one had wondered where she was and looked around, only to find her crying. They were all happily dancing and laughing, thinking up New Year's resolutions.

As if reading her thoughts, someone sat beside her. Tess wanted to look over and see who it was, but she was afraid it would just be a happy person who only sat down because he was tired and needed to rest for a second.

"Tess." The person whispered, sounding concerned.

Tess was now sure they knew she was there. She closed her eyes, promising herself that she would befriend this one person who actually cared for her. When she opened them again, the person was crouched in front of her, looking at her face.

It was Nate Black.

Of course. Tess should have known that he had some sort of care for her. Wasn't he the only one who helped her at that Halloween party when she broke down crying? Wasn't he the only one who was concerned when she fell on stage at the previous year's Final Jam?

"Shane was wrong, wasn't he?" Nate asked quietly, sounding thoughtful.

"Wrong about what? The fact that I'm completely messed up? I am messed up. I must have some disorder that makes me push people away, because for some reason I ended up with no one." Tess cried, staring at the ceiling once more.

"No, Shane never said you were messed up. He said that everything you ever said to him was a lie. You know, the stuff about your mom not caring." Nate explained. Tess's heart broke a little more when she heard him say that.

"Sh-Shane told you that? He told you what I told him about TJ? He…he promised he wouldn't tell anyone." Tess whispered dejectedly. So Shane really did hate her.

"He didn't tell us until you told all of his secrets to the camp. He said that you had made it all up in some big plan to hurt him. But I saw how you cried at that party. I _saw_ how your mom acted in Final Jam. You were never lying, were you?" Nate asked.

Tess closed her eyes once again. The last time she had opened up to a person had been six years ago, when she had told Shane about her mother. That friendship had not ended well for Tess. Why should she trust his best friend?

Then again, what did she have to lose?

"No. I wasn't lying. TJ has only ever seen me perform once, and that was at that Final Jam. I'm seventeen years old, and I do about five performances a year. That's about sixty five performances, and she has only showed up at one." Tess confessed.

She had had that math done for a while now. She started the equation when she was seven. She had started performing when she was four, so she just added five for every year. Every single birthday, she'd add another five. Her mother had never cared to come to any of those five.

"Well, she is kind of busy." Nate reminded her. Tess let out a bitter laugh.

"Are you serious? Half of those performances have been on her free days. But you know what she says? She says that she doesn't want to waste her one day off work sitting watching me squawk at an audience." Tess said, her voice, ironically, cracking on the word "squawk".

"Well, if that's really true, then why do you always betray people? With a mom like that, wouldn't you want a friend?" Nate asked. Tess wondered once again if she should open up, but decided that if Nate did betray her she couldn't get any more broken than she already was.

"Trust no one. Everyone will turn on you eventually, so instead of setting yourself up for heartache, just use them to get yourself higher on the food chain. Love is something that does not exist. Friends don't love their friends. Every friend carries a secret hatred for their friends. Everyone hates you. Everyone hates everyone. So punish them for their hate by using them for your own personal gain." Tess whispered, barely audible behind the loud music in the room.

"That's not true." Nate insisted, shaking his head furiously.

"I know it's not. But it's what my mother taught me, and I lived by it for three years. Three years. All it took was three simple years for me to completely destroy everything I had." Tess said, her tears once again returning.

"I don't get it. For two years Shane was a terrible person. But he turned good again. For three years you were a terrible person, and now you're good again. But when Shane changed back, he got back all of the love his friends and family had withdrawn. But when you changed back, you were left with nothing." Nate shook his head, clearly disturbed by this revelation.

"That's because people actually cared about Shane before he got mean. Even when I was nice, my mother didn't care, my friends secretly hated me, and Shane was the only one who really liked me. I ruined his trust in me, and now, because of those three years, everyone has an actual excuse to hate me. They'd never pass that up. And now I'm alone." Tess sighed.

"Not anymore." Nate whispered, carefully placing his hand on hers. Tess flinched at the touch for a moment, but then smiled.

Nate cared about her. The one person she had been waiting for had finally come. Tess finally had a person willing to go through the painful process of gluing her half back together.

Suddenly, Tess became aware that the music had stopped. At first she was confused, but then she heard the counting.

_20_,_ 19_,_ 18_,_ 17_…

Tess jumped up, leaving Nate at the couch and running into the crowd of people. She looked around frantically, searching the room for the one person she needed to find. She could hear Nate behind her, calling her name, but she ignored him.

_13_,_ 12_,_ 11_,_ 10_…

She heard his voice, talking quietly to someone. She rushed to the sound, keeping her vow from the beginning of the party in mind.

_8_,_ 7_…

Tess could hear his voice getting louder now, she could even make out a few words he was saying.

"Mitchie, I need to…I love…forever."

_5_,_ 4_,_ 3_…

Finally, Tess saw him. He was standing with Mitchie, his arms wrapped around her. They were both staring into each other's eyes with an expression filled with love and adoration.

_2_, _1_…

Tess felt her heart shred itself as Shane leaned down and gently placed his lips on Mitchie's. She took a step forward, ready to claw her to death. Mitchie had forever taken Shane from her.

Then again, would she just be causing him more pain? Tess froze at the thought.

Shane's first betrayal from a friend had been her. Because of Shane's mean and terrible attitude, which was caused by her, he had damaged many relationships. When Mitchie first lied, it was because she wanted to impress Tess, not Shane. When Shane's heart got viciously broken when the truth was revealed, it was because of Tess, not Mitchie.

Tess had, ultimately, been the cause of most of the pain in his life. And here she was, about to ruin the best moment of his whole life.

She slowly began fumbling backwards, tripping every few steps. Her face was frozen in shock. When she was free of the happy crowd, she turned around and began running for the door. Her face broke, the tears sliding down her face.

Before she could reach the exit, however, someone grabbed her, engulfing her in a tight hug. Tess pushed herself away from them, not wanting a stranger's pity. When she got a look at the person's face, however, she flung her arms around him.

Nate Black was the only person at that moment Tess trusted not to hurt her. As she hugged him, she felt a strange sensation.

A shred of her heart, which had been hanging on by a thread, tightly wove itself back on. Her heart, her shattered heart, was healing. She basked in this feeling, this relief of pain. Though her tears kept falling, she hugged herself closer.

She wanted to be healed. She wanted to be loved. She wanted, more than anything, for her shattered half of the glass vase to be glued back together. She wanted to feel like she was whole, not like she was broken into millions of different fragments.

And here was Nate, doing just that.

**Whoopee, oneshot is finished (sarcasm). I have lots more, so be ready.**

**Please don't review with a simple "i loved it" or "great story". If that's all you have to say, you might as well not review at all. You could at least tell my why you liked it or something. You know, prove to me that you're actually capable of writing an intelligible response.**

**That goes for those flaming, too. Let me know why my story sucks instead of just saying it does.**


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